Particle.news
Download on the App Store
9 ARTICLES
·
1h ago

Edmund Fitzgerald at 50: Memorials Rise as New Claims Revisit How the Ship Sank

Anniversary events pair fresh scrutiny of the wreck's cause with remembrance of the 29 lost.

None
Courtesy of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society
The largest and longest vessel ever built on the Great Lakes, the 729-foot ore carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald, slides into the launching basin on June 7, 1958, in Detroit. (AP)
Image

Overview

  • Regional tributes on Nov. 10 include the Split Rock Lighthouse beacon lighting, which will be livestreamed, and a public remembrance at 2 p.m. at Whitefish Point in Michigan.
  • A new shoreline memorial in Washburn, Wisconsin, dedicated Nov. 1, honors crew with a Fitzgerald-shaped weathervane set on a repurposed ore-dock tower.
  • Documentarian Ric Mixter is presenting Nov. 8 talks in Duluth and at the University of Wisconsin–Superior, challenging popular narratives shaped by Gordon Lightfoot’s song.
  • Mixter asserts the freighter broke on the surface after extreme waves collapsed hatches one and six, and he disputes key song details, while Coast Guard findings after the sinking highlighted leaking hatches and widespread noncompliance in inspections.
  • Coverage also revisits the ship’s legacy as a 729‑foot Great Lakes workhorse launched in 1958 with roughly 26,000 tons of cargo capacity and the loss of all 29 crew in the 1975 storm.